Research
I-10 Megaregion
Project Goals:
The I-10 Megaregion project uses the best available research, combined with a systems and design-thinking approach to envision the future mega-region along the Gulf Coast, with coordinated planning around development of the I-10 corridor. The I-10 corridor will serve multiple roles in structuring the future mega-region. Most importantly, the corridor is located at a distance from the coast that makes it a refuge from changing sea levels and rates of land loss along the coast.
Project Team:
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PROJECT LEADERS
- Jeff Carney Former Director, Coastal Sustainability Studio
- Bradley Cantrell
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STUDENTS
- Matthew Seibert
The Gulf Coast mega-region has been recognized as one of 11 American mega-regions defined by the Regional Plan Association as exhibiting cohesion across environmental systems, topography, infrastructure systems, economic linkages, settlement and land-use patterns, and culture and history. The I-10 corridor links small rural communities, mid-sized towns, and major metropolitan areas together into a vast, globally significant mega-region from Texas to Florida.
Currently, the greater mega-region is developing without vision or control, as a mechanism of the coupled industrialized and natural resource economies of the region. The resultant commercial, industrial, and suburban sprawl is over-running traditional communities, obstructing ecological systems, and out-competing local economies across the coast.